Today has been interesting. The group is really getting to grips with the methodology and are participating beautifully – but I have had moments where I have not been in control at all. The group has taken over the learning experiences almost entirely. As I am writing this blog, two groups are standing around the assessment tools they designed yesterday and offering really constructive critique and feedback. The level of their application is really impressive. I have not seen this level of understanding and evaluation in assessment tool designers with far more experience.

I have felt somewhat redundant though. I am keeping the time on track and listening to what is being said to make sure the learners are offering sound advice to each other, but they really are learning from each other. And what they don’t immediately know they are looking up on the internet (they all have tablet computers in class – it is part of the programme). My advice is being sought more as a mediator between views than as the teacher. As an extrovert I have to keep biting my tongue to stop myself from taking over.

This methodology is certainly taxing because it takes me completely out of my comfortable space in the front of the class. I am stressing that I should be doing and inputing more – but I know they are learning just fine without my interference.

But, I have to say, although the classroom space has been less taxing on my energy (because I can sit here and take time to blog!) the preparation for this flipped classroom was far more intense than the preparation I would have done for a more traditional class. I had to really think each activity through to try and anticipate what might happen. But even then – I never expected to become more spectator than facilitator!

Last day tomorrow. (photos on the Chartall Business College facebook page)

3 thoughts on “Confessions from a flipped classroom – day 4”

Karen, may you go from strength to strength: please use what you have shared as the foundation for a course on the flipped classroom – there is a desperate need for this methodology in occupationally directed training.

This is great Karen. It makes me think of facilitating complex issues where there is no right answer. To bring that into a training room is wonderful, because it really allows people to engage with the content, the problem as well as with one another. This is true learning. Thank you for sharing your insights – in this way all of us who are following your blog learn as well.

Thanks again, Karen. It’s your intense preparation and early facilitation, of course, that has created this amazing space for the learners to take charge of their own future. Our teaching from the front make us feel good but how much is learned? Your “redundancy” is the very thing that will make this class memorable and effective. Paradoxically, it will also make you memorable. They will speak of you, in years to come, as one of the best teachers they every had, and you will say, “But I just sat and watched them learn.”

It’s like listening to someone in crisis. The temptation is to speak, but when we simply listen, they say, “Thank you SO much. You were SO helpful.”

But if your learners forget to remember you, well, you have plenty of fans here at Skills Universe!!